Concerns about History, Current Housing and Parking
While preservationists, politicians and university officials have weighed in repeatedly on the fate of the old Queen Anne homes built over 100 years ago when Reno was a very small town, what do students think of the possible plan to change that entire area into a new business and life sciences complex?
Junior Weston Irons expressed concern.
“I’m all for expanding campus, but if it’s at the expense of historical houses, I think there should be another approach to it,” he said. “I don’t think they should demolish the houses, because if they do, Reno is losing a significant part of history.”
Some students said they felt inspired by having buildings which were historical and which gave them context to the evolution of higher learning.
But other students, such as Brooke Lanier, also a junior, are not impressed by the houses.
“The houses look really dingy, so I’m okay with them going,” she said. Still she said, she is not entirely for erasing history. “I think they should still commemorate the space with a plaque or something so that everyone knows, ‘Oh there was something here that was really cool.’”
Overall, many students said they were unaware about these new plans on their campus. What many would want to see more of, they said, as the university expands and keeps building, is more student housing.
Irons, for his part, is more worried about the lack of parking.
“Definitely not more dorms, I think we have enough of that and I see way too many young people,” he said. “We could definitely use more parking because we all have nowhere to go.”